American Go E-Journal » Go News

Cho Seok-Bin 7d of Korea (r) defeated Dai Janfu 7d of China in the final round to sweep the second annual Strasbourg Go Tournament, held May 29-30 in that city in eastern France. Dai was the winner of the first Strasbourg last year and came in second this year after his loss with a 3-1 record. Noguchi Motoki 6d came in third, while Viktor Lin 5d of Austria was the highest finishing European in fourth place.– EuroGoTV

Matthew Macfadyen 6d (r) was a perfect 7-0 in the British Go Association’s Challengers’ League, held in London May 28-31. The league determines which two players will play for the British Championship, which Macfadyen has won 23 times. Vanessa Wong 5d and Richard Hunter 4d were tied with five wins each at the end of the 8-player round robin, but Wong won the playoff and will face Macfadyen in the championship, which will be a five-game title match.– EuroGoTV

For the second year in a row, Kong Jie (r) has won the Asian TV Cup, defeating Yuki Satoshi by resignation on Thursday, June 3 after 176 moves. Satoshi was somewhat of a surprise finalist, given the very strong showing of Korea and China over the past five years. Satoshi played extremely well throughout the tournament but could not prevail against China’s top player.– JustPlayGo for details and game records

An undefeated Jie Li 7D (r) topped a 58-player field to win the 37th annual Maryland Open over the Memorial Day weekend. “Five 7-dans and two 6-dans fought it out in a very strong open section,” reports organizer Keith Arnold, “but Jie Li emerged as the only player to finish 5-0 in the entire event.” “I am very impressed by the improvement of the younger generation of players, such as Eric Lui, Gus Price and Ricky Zhao,” Li told the E-Journal. “They played well.” The Empty Sky Go Club won the Greg Lefler Award and Kelsey Dyer 2k the Fighting Spirit Prize. Li is four-time US Open champion, has won the North American Ing and Toyota-Denso Oza three times each, and represented North America three times in the Fujitsu Cup. He’s also served as a board member at the American Go Association for the past two years and urges go players of all ages to join the AGA. “Members get a lot of benefits such as the free Yearbook and playing at rated AGA tournaments locally, or playing online in national tournaments,” says Li. Find out more and join online here. Sam Zimmerman directed. Click here for an album of photos from the MD Open.– includes reporting by Keith Arnold and Zhiyuan ‘Edward’ Zhang; photo by ZhangWINNER’S REPORT: Open Section: 1st Jie Li 7d; 2nd Eric Lui 7d; 3rd Guthrie; Price 7d; A Section: 1st Scott Waldron 4d; 2nd Gregory Rosenblatt 5d; B Section: 1st Keiju Takehara 2d; 2nd Ed Downes 1d; C Section: 1st Stephen Tung 1k; 2ndst Stephen Allen 6k; 2nd Ed Caldiera 7k; E Section: 1st Justin Chiang 10k; 2nd Jamie Birger 9k; F Section: 1st Matt Payton 25k; 2nd Deirdre Golash 13k. Joe Maia 2k; D Section: 1

The deadline for the AGF College Scholarship essay has been extended to June 15th. “The $1,000 award honors students whose enthusiasm and dedication have contributed to the go community,” reports AGF Board Member Matthew Mallory. “All youth organizers and promoters that are in their junior or senior year of high school should apply as soon as possible,” Mallory urges. CLICK HERE for more information and the application.

The U. S. Youth Go Championships (USYGC) finals are set for June 5 and 6 on KGS. Although Calvin Sun 7d, and Kevin Fang 1d, have already been chosen as the representatives to the World Youth Championships, the USYGC will give kids of all ranks a chance to play for a national title. Best double-digit kyu and single-digit kyu players will vie for the top slots, and dan level kids will also be competing in two separate brackets. CLICK HERE for full standings, which will be updated after each round.– Paul Barchilon, Youth Editor

Won Sungjin 9P defeated Kim Seongryong 9P by resignation on Sunday, in the second round of the CS Caltex Cup. The round will conclude on June 11th with a game between Lee Changho and Kim Junghyun. The winner of the 15th annual tournament will play for the title against last year’s Cup winner Cho Hanseung.
– JustPlayGo